Childhood's End

Returning from the grave... well, a rather intense temp assignment, with  a few thoughts and stuff:

Arthur C. Clarke has died. I devoured his books as a teenager and they helped to lay the foundation for what science fiction should be in my young mind. I may have turned aside a lot of those assumptions over the years, but like the works of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, Clarke's works were -- and still are -- essential for anyone who really wants to understand the genre.

After reading a number of accounts from last week's South by Southwest music whatever it was (conference, convention, excuse to party for a week?), I realize that the whole affair sounds like hell to me: long lines, crowded venues, tons of people trying to act cool, all for a lot of bands that no one will remember in a couple of months.

Lost continues on its merry way, with a pair of recent peaks surrounding a deep valley in the last three episodes. I don't think it's a surprise that the valley was one that advanced the underlying mythology more than characters. Yes, the backstory to Lost is intriguing, but it's not what makes the show so enticing -- it's the bevy of interesting characters who are constantly forced to make difficult decisions, and often make the wrong ones.

There was a bit of a discussion on spoilers on io9, a supremely geeky science fiction site. For those of you visiting here -- once a show has aired on television, book has been issued or movie has been in the theaters, it's fair game. It's not a spoiler anymore after its escaped from captivity, so don't pretend people are causing you grief because they have the audacity to talk about a movie from two years ago you haven't gotten around to watching yet. By the way, Rosebud was his sled.

Speaking of spoilers -- word is that Captain Jack and Ianto will be seen in bed together on the next BBC-broadcast Torchwood (whoo hoo!) and that the Daleks will be back in season 4 of Doctor Who. Now, does either of these facts surprise anyone?

Returning from my sick bed

I spent the week recovering from a rather nasty bug, so I'll have to cram a week's worth of stuff into this rather quick post:

New MinnPost post at, er, MinnPost. Still waiting for my 19th-century style illo.

You can read an official, online version of Neil Gaiman's American Gods here.

Nominations for the Hugo Awards close March 1. 

Torchwood continues to be up and down, but the latest show on the BBC (it'll be on BBC America in a few weeks) may be the best thing the show has ever done.

Lost just goes from strength to strength, as last night's moving Desmond-centric episode showed. Not only was the geek-centric back story explained a bit, but story held considerable emotional weight, which has always been the central appeal of the show.

In Dwarf news: the painting of the Warhammer ones is almost (finally!) done; while my WoW dwarf now gets to tool around the world on a tricked-out ram (not a Dodge Ram, just a... ram --the Dwarfs really got the short end of the stick as far as mounts go, didn't they?).

Right, music:

Shelby Lynne Just a Little Lovin’

Shelby Lynne has fought the Best New Artist Grammy curse all this decade, and may finally have found her breakthrough with a collection of songs made famous by another singular artist.

On Just a Little Lovin’, Lynne digs into the Dusty Springfield songbook, bringing nine classic hits (and one Lynne original) of moody pop music back to life for a new audience. She does a remarkable job, taking songs that are often quite familiar and recasting them in a way that is 1) completely her own but also 2) honors the memory and music of the late, great performer.

You can hear that on the best-known tracks, such as “How Can I Be Sure” or the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard “The Look of Love” or Randy Newman’s “I Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore.” Lynne’s own contribution, the folk-tinged “Pretend,” sits well, side-by-side with songs by some of the great pop songwriters of the last 40 years. And the efforts of Lynne’s talented band and legendary producer Phil Ramone only help to bring the songs back to life.


Willie Nelson Moment of Forever

Meanwhile, the red-headed (hmm, white-headed now I guess) stranger just soldiers on, issuing collection after collection of strong country music for his audience. Moment of Forever has the distinct Nelson touches that brings listeners back again and again to his musical well – dusty vocals as dry as the western deserts, well-played and arranged country-western of a style that may be out of vogue but certainly not out of style, and a collection of songs that reach deep into the mind and heart. You also have Nelson heading off in some unusual directions, such as an eight-minute reading of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” one of the songwriter’s signature songs from his born-again phase. It’s an engaging song, and Nelson’s delivery matches its moods and message better than Dylan’s nasal ever did.

American Music Club The Golden Age

I never could connect with American Music Club, and that somehow left me feeling inadequate. Mark Eitzel’s dark, brooding songs and the band’s synthesis of diverse strands of pop and rock music should have been in my musical sweep spot. Yet, I never got behind the music in more than a “that was nice to listen to, what’s next” sort of way. That’s changed on The Golden Age, which finds the band – recently relocated from San Francisco to Los Angeles and sporting a slightly retuned lineup – at a high point of their musical careers. And this time, I get the music. The sound fuses diverse elements that reminds me of the music Elvis Costello made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a sound that freely borrows from rock, pop, jazz, blues and other strains, but fuses them into a mature whole. Maybe the word here is mature – there is something about Eitzel’s weary delivery that connects with the older me that understands where he has always come from as a musician.